“He seems to be as hungry if not more hungry this time around,” says Brick co-owner Karma, who hasn’t always seen eye to eye with Reks. “That’s extremely rare. Reks has matured as a lyricist but more importantly as a man — his sense and strength of family has helped with that. You see it when you speak to him — he’s found a better place with good people around him, and I think he’s secure and happy there.”

Along with some stray gray patches, Reks, who is only 30, has developed a new respect for his art, his friends, his family, and, of course, hip-hop. So is his new disc a referendum on the state of rap music? Yes — but he has a greater mission than beating on the same cadaver that every “real” MC has impaled for three years now. “I was getting out of the dirt — personally and mentally — with my life and with this music. Grey Hairs not only represents my struggle in hip-hop, but hip-hop’s struggle right now. Hip-hop is not dead, but it is at a defining moment. When you reach that age where you’re getting those gray hairs, you start to see that it’s time to make decisions. Are we going to settle for the same old, or are we going to do things that are defining and test the limits of what this music can be? It’s all pretty humbling, and I’m not going to lose sight of that this time.”

CZARFACE SOARS ABOVE THE CLOUDS | February 11, 2013 This week 7LES and Inspectah Deck drop Czarface , a full-length work of adventurous genius revolving around a metal-clad protagonist who feeds on destruction.

THE BPD ADDS INSULT TO INJURY | February 05, 2013 At times, this kind of decision makes you wonder whether the BPD is saving its best awards for officers who've been involved in the death of civilians.